Unscrupulous businessmen extracting copper from 50ngwee coins

The newly minted 50ngwe coins have reportedly run out in Kitwe and some other parts of the copperbelt province, making transactions difficult and some traders have accused some foreign nationals of getting the copper rich coins which they melt and later extract the copper.

The hardest hit are bus conductors who are unable to give change to customers, forcing them to round off the fares on some routes.

The affected conductors said that they were aware of some Congolese and Chinese nationals who were getting the coins in huge amounts which they later melt and have called on government to mint more coins and that police must arrest such culprits some of whom have factories right in the country.